1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lower body supports such as footrests and legrests for wheel chairs and, more particularly, to a new and improved footrest/legrest including components for facilitating adjustments about a multitude of axes to desirably position the footrest/legrest to accommodate multiple deformities and for specific lower extremity needs.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Wheel chairs commonly include a frame to which four wheels, a seat bottom, a seat back, arm rests and push handles are attached. The four wheels typically include two large rear drive wheels and two smaller front idler wheels. On the front of the frame, below the seat bottom, there is typically a pair of hangers, receivers, or receptacles for attaching a pair of lower body supports thereto. A typical hanger includes a pair of hooks from which a footrest/legrest can be hung.
The simplest arrangement of a footrest may include a rod with a footplate attached to the rod. In addition, the connection between the rod and the footplate may be such that the footplate may freely pivot from a fixed generally horizontal position to a substantially vertical position to allow the occupant to easily enter and exit the chair or to allow the chair to collapse into a more convenient size or shape for transport. The simplest arrangement of a legrest may include a rod extending horizontally out from the wheelchair with a calf support attached to the rod.
For a variety of reasons, it may be desirable to adjust and fix the footrest/legrest, and thus the occupant's leg and foot, in various positions relative to the wheel chair. In the past, this has been accomplished to some degree with rotary connections by providing some adjustment of the footrest/legrest about an axis corresponding to the pivotal axis of the occupant's knee. Some adjustment of the footplate has also been provided about an axis corresponding to the pivotal axis of the occupant's ankle.
However, there are several shortcomings to these prior art approaches. First of all, the footplate has typically been connected to the main rod via a horizontal rod and a band clamp around the horizontal rod which relied upon frictional force to retain the footplate in position relative to the horizontal rod. As will be appreciated, pressure from the weight of the leg and foot placed at either end of the footplate causes a great amount of rotational force due to the leverage involved and thereby allows the clamp to easily slip, allowing the footplate to rotate out of the desired position.
A second shortcoming in the prior art involves the rotary connection allowing for adjustment about the knee axis. This knee axis adjustment has typically been accomplished by an unreliable rotary connector between structural members of the footrest/legrest. The connector included a pair of opposed faces having serrations therein. These two face-serrations were held against each other by a fastening bolt. The drawback with face-serration connectors is that rotational forces, such as those caused by the weight of the leg, tend to cause the connector to loosen. Once loosened partially, the continued application of force will effect further rapid loosening.
A third shortcoming of the prior art is the inability to achieve a large variety of footrest/legrest orientations relative to the wheel chair which is desirable to accommodate different deformities and to achieve varied positioning of the legrest for specific purposes.
It is against this background and to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art that the present invention has been developed.